Regarding arbitrary arrests under 498A IPC - Union Home Minister

8^th July 2010

Bangalore

To,

Union Home Minsiter Shri P Chidambaram,

Ministry of Home Affairs, North Block
Central Secretariat
New Delhi – 110 001
Phone: 23092011, 23092161
Fax: 23093750, 23092763

Subject: Regarding arbitrary arrests of ordinary law-abiding citizens under IPC Sections 498A, 304B, Dowry Prohibition Act and related laws.

About National Family Harmony Society®: “National Family Harmony Society®” NFHS is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) promoting the cause of “family harmony” and “gender equality”. It is registered under “The Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960” and is based in Bangalore. We have branches in more than 16 states and in abroad too. We have approximately 14500 members all over India. To know more about us please visit http://www.family-harmony.org / http://www.498a.org.in.

Honorable members of the Parliament have been raising questions in the parliament at regular interval regarding the heavy misuse of IPC Sections 498A, 304B, Dowry Prohibition Act and related laws. Please find some of the questions raised by members of Parliament regarding heavy misuse of women centric laws.

T a b l e – 1

Sl No	Question number	House	Name of  Member	Answered on	Subject
1	1409	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI MOTILAL VORA	01.08.2003	MISUSE OF DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT
2	1610	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI R.S. GAVAI	16.03.2005	INCREASING NUMBER OF FALSE DOWRY CASES
3	2698	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI ABU ASIM AZMI	22.08.2005	AMENDMENTS TO DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT
4	2805	RAJYA SABHA	PROF. RAM DEO BHANDARY	23.08.2006	HARASSMENT DUE TO DOWRY ALLEGATIONS
5	3876	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI MAHENDRA SAHNI	10.05.2007	AMENDMENT IN ANTI DOWRY LAW
6	4501	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI SURENDRA LATH	16.05.2007	MISUSE OF DOWRY PROHIBITION ACTs
7	1474	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI BRIJ BHUSHAN TIWARI	03.12.2007	AMENDMENTS TO DOWRY LAWS
8	1696	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI LALIT KISHORE CHATURVEDI	05.12.2007	PUNISHING PEOPLE FILING FALSE DOWRY RELATED CASES
9	2933	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI KAMAL AKHTAR	21.04.2008	STIFFER ANTI DOWRY LAWS
10	1474	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI BRIJ BHUSHAN TIWARI	03.12.2007	AMENDMENTS TO DOWRY LAWS
11	1073	RAJYA SABHA	SHRI AMAR SINGH	10.03.2008	AMENDMENT OF ANTI DOWRY ACT
12	304	RAJYA SABHA	ABU ASIM AZMI	20.10.2008	MISUSE OF ANTI DOWRY ACT
13	440	LOK SABHA	SHRI SANAT KUMAR	28.08.2001	Dowry Prohibition Act and Domestic
14	1012	LOK SABHA	Shri RAMDAS ATHAWALE	06.03.2007	AMENDMENT IN DOWRY ACT
15	440	LOK SABHA	Shri SANAT KUMAR MANDAL	20.02.2009	DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT
16	2030	LOK SABHA	Shri DALPAT SINGH PARASTE	30.11.2007	ABUSE OF ANTI-DOWRY LAW
17	193	LOK SABHA	Shri RAGHUVIR SINGH KAUSHAL	16.11.2007	FALSE IMPLICATION IN DOWRY DEATH CASES
18	1181	LOK SABHA	Kunwar REWATI RAMAN SINGH	21.08.2007	COMPLAINTS ON DOWRY BY NRIs
19	382	LOK SABHA	Shri N CHELUVARAYA SWAMY SWAMYGOWDA	20.11.2009	MISUSE OF DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT, 1961S

 

Honorable Supreme Court and various High Courts have observed from time to time that these women centric laws are being highly misuse. Honorable Supreme Court had observed that IPC 498A is being used as “Legal Terror”. Some of the observation of the Supreme Court and various High Courts are compiled below:

T a b l e -  2

Sl No	Court	Case Number/Reported	Year	Between
1	Supreme Court	Writ Petition (C) No. 141 of 2005)	2005	Sushil Kumar Sharma Vs. Union of India (UOI)
2	Supreme Court	Appeal (crl.) 206	2008	Som Mittal Vs Govt. of Karnataka
3	Supreme Court	Appeal (crl.) 1716 of 2007	2007	Onkar Nath Mishra & Ors vs State (Nct Of Delhi) & Anr
4	Supreme Court	2000 (2) JCC (SC) 657: 2000 (5) SCC 207	2000	Kans Raj vs. State of Punjab and others
5	Delhi HC	Crl.A.No.339-41/2005	2010	-
6	Delhi HC	CRL.M.C.7262/2006	2007	-
7	Delhi HC	CRL. R 462/2002	2003	Savitri Devi Versus  Ramesh Chand and Ors.
8	AP HC	A. A. O. No. 1039 of 2001	2002	Saritha Vs R.Ramachandra
9	Punjab & Haryana HC	(1990)2 Rec Cri R 243	1990	Jasbir Kaur vs. State of Haryanas
10	Supreme Court	CriLJ 2993	2000	Kanaraj vs. State of Punjab
11	Karnataka HC	2002 CriLJ 3605	-	State Vs. Srikanth
12	Supreme Court	2002 CriLJ 4124	2002	Mohd. Hoshan vs. State of A.P.
13	Delhi HC	2003 CriLJ 2759	2003	Savitri Devi vs. Ramesh Chand
14	Punjab & Haryana HC	2003 CriLJ 3394	2003	Bhupinder Kaur and others vs. State of Punjab and others
15	Jharkhand HC	2004 CriLJ 2989	2004	Arjun Ram Vs. State of Jharkhand and another
16	Punjab & Haryana HC	RCR (Criminal) 163	2002	Mukesh Rani Vs. State of Haryana
17	Delhi HC	2001 (2) JCC (Delhi) 86	2001	Anu Gill Vs. State & Anrs
18	Supreme Court	AIR 2005 SC 1989	2005	Ramesh & Ors. Vs. State of Tamil Nadu
19	Delhi HC	CHANDER KANTA LAMBA & ORS	-	-
20	ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE	Revision No. 88/2008/2002	2002	-
21	Punjab & Haryana HC	-	2002	Krishan Jeet Singh vs State Of Haryana
22	Orissa HC	-	2003	Benumadhab Padhi Mohapatra vs State
23	AP HC	Criminal Petition No. 6642 of 2007	2007	Kamireddy Mangamma and others
24	Allahabad HC	CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. – 3322 of 2010	2010	Sanjeev Kumar & Others vs State Of U.P.s

 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
• No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
• No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence or to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

 

In blatant violation of all the above rights, thousands of husbands and their families are arbitrarily arrested every year, without evidence or investigation, under IPC Sections 498A, 304B, Dowry Prohibition Act, and related wife-centric laws which presume that the accused are “guilty until proven innocent”.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has noted the misuse of dowry laws, arrest of innocent individuals and the resultant overcrowding of prisons. NHRC has urged the judiciary and law enforcement agencies to take measures against these abuses. High Courts across the country and the Supreme Court have condemned the misuse of dowry laws. The Commissioner of Police, Bangalore had issued standing instructions vide memo to check arbitrary arrests. The DGP, Karnataka has also issued a circular to implement 11 guidelines issued by Honorable Supreme Court of India regarding arrests and detention of Individuals in Cr WP No. 539/1986 and Cr WP No.592/1987. By taking note of the heavy misuse of the 498A IPC, recently on October 20, 2009, Union Ministry of Home Affairs had issued an advisory to all the state Governments and Union Territories. National Commission of Human Rights also has issued guidelines regarding arrests.

Nevertheless, abuse of police powers continues and unnecessary arrests have only been growing in the State of Karnataka. Police routinely enter people’s homes at ungodly hours, take accused men and women into custody, and incarcerate them in the name of “protecting women from cruelty and harassment”. Innocent citizens are illegally detained, humiliated, subjected to mental and physical torture, blackmail and extortion. The honor and reputation of these accused individuals is simultaneously attacked through media trial and unrestrained slander by women’s organizations every day. Thousands of men and women have been driven to suicide due to the trauma of false cases, arrest, prolonged trials and the resultant humiliation and financial troubles they have to endure.

According to statistics published by the National Crime Records Bureau in 2007 alone, an overwhelming 94% of the individuals arrested under IPC Section 498A were found not guilty. A closer look at individual cases under Section 498A reveals that arrests are made by lower cadre police officials without proper justification and only with the intent of terrorizing innocent citizens and extorting money from them under the threat of imprisonment and long-drawn legal battles.

Our numerous pleas to the Government of India to stop arbitrary arrests of citizens under IPC Section 498A have fallen on deaf ears. On the other hand, new laws are always on the anvil (sexual assault, work place harassment, acid attacks etc.) which stress on immediate arrest of men upon mere accusations made by women.

While it is amply clear that under the prevailing circumstances, arrest is inevitable for any man facing allegations of abuse or assault, it is imperative that innocent citizens are prepared to go to jail even if they committed no crime. Ordinary law abiding citizens and their kin should be freed from the fear of jail and the concomitant feelings of humiliation and suffering so that they do not drive themselves into depression, ruin their health or end their own lives.

In spite of All round coverage by Media regarding heavy Misuse of IPC 498A, questions in the parliament by honorable MPs, Critical remarks by various HCs and SC, Observation by NHRC, advisories issued by your ministry from time to time, State Governments are not taking any steps to prevent the heavy misuse of IPC Sections 498A, 304B, Dowry Prohibition Act and related laws. These laws are so biased and dangerous that any innocent can become victim just on a false complaint by a woman. Even celebrities like Pakistani Cricketer Shoaib Malik and Former Union Minister Arjun Singh have not been spared have been falsely implicated under these laws.

 

OUR Demands:

 

• Stop the heavy misuse of Gender Biased laws such as 498A, 304B, Dowry Prohibition Act and related laws.
• No arrest before Final Judgment/Order in case of a complaint under 498A, 304B, Dowry Prohibition Act and related laws.
• Implement recommendations of Law Commission and “Malimath committee” to make 498A bailable.
• Bring in amendment to stop arbitrary arrest of elderly persons, children and pregnant sisters.
• Punishment for those filing false cases under 498A, 304B, Dowry Prohibition Act and related laws.
• Bring in amendments to make IPC 498A “Gender Neutral” so that those husbands and in-laws who are harassed can also make complaint under this IPC section.

 

 

P Suresh, President,                                           M Mahesh, General Secretary,

9880141531                                                      9731569970

National Family Harmony Society                         National Family Harmony Society

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